We weren't listening to guitar bands, we were thoroughly ashamed of being a guitar band. So we bought loads of keyboards and learned how to use them, and when we got bored we went back to guitars.
Thom YorkeRead
I don't see it in terms of changing things, but rather using language and music as weapons for fighting a mainstream media which is predominately right wing, and loyal to the political framework and its corporate interests.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Thom Yorke emphasizes using art as a tool to challenge mainstream media's biases and corporate influences.
In this quote, Thom Yorke expresses his view that instead of merely striving for change, artists should utilize their craft—specifically language and music—as powerful instruments to critique and combat the predominantly right-leaning mainstream media landscape. He underscores the idea that art can serve as a form of resistance against corporate interests and political frameworks that shape public discourse.
Themes
MediaMusicLanguagePoliticsResistanceArt
In practice
Example use cases
During a political rally, to inspire young artists to use their talents for social justice.
More from Thom Yorke
All quotes →I'm achingly aware of my own limitations as both part of the human race and as an individual. I'm just, casting this out that, maybe, I'm not so perfect as is the affront I oft put on. After all, the lyric is 'I wish I was special'. I truly just want to be loved and accepted, I think, like all humans.
Thom YorkeRead
There's a pervading sense of loneliness I've had since the day I was born. Maybe a lot of other people feel the same way, but I'm not about to run up and down the street asking everybody if they're as lonely as I am. I'd probably get locked up.
Thom YorkeRead
People in bands don't have the kind of conversations people might think they have. The best things about being in a band are the things that are unsaid.
Thom YorkeRead
I don't think young people are as demoralized as the media and government would like us to think. The obvious sign of that is how strong and how close personal connections are and how much people are able to build a life for themselves, despite all this stuff that's been thrown at them.
Thom YorkeRead
I tell you what's really ridiculous--going into a bookstore and there's all these books about yourself. In a way, it feels like you're already dead.
Thom YorkeRead
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